[Lalwendë]

In fact in showing Sam's rise to high status Tolkien shows us how old barriers of 'class' in Middle-earth were broken down after the War of the Ring, in much the same way that WWI saw huge shifts in the expectations and perceived limitations of class in Britain. It was following WWI that we saw women gain the vote and the working classes began to rise into positions of power and influence. The aristocracy in Britain entered into the decline into shabby gentility that continues today, just as the Elves became less exalted as the Third Age ends. A new power takes over, Men, just as the rising power of the working and middle classes in Britain accelerated following the Great War. Aragorn heralds a new age of Hope, the Modern Age.